


Growing Up With a Twist

by Kaliade



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate History, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Eventual Relationships, Family Feels, Growing Up, Not Beta Read, Original Kingdom Hearts Characters, Survival Training, cherry picking canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-06-02
Packaged: 2020-03-08 20:32:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18902128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaliade/pseuds/Kaliade
Summary: The Destiny Islands are peaceful.  That's why Nari chose to live there and raise her son.  Then the appearance of a child with power hidden deep within her makes Nari worry.  Dragging said girl child and her son's best friend into the training she provides her son may have been an extreme reaction, but Nari's seen enough to have decent pattern recognition.  Something is coming and she is going to ensure her son and his friends survive whatever it is.This causes ripples that eventually turn into tsunamis.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that the author is using, abusing, and ignoring canon at her discretion. This is your first and only warning that the author will be turning canon over her knee and making it cry. If this bothers you, please turn around now. 
> 
> To further support the author, check out her tumblr at kaliade.tumblr.com.

The intense but familiar smells of salt, fish, and other ocean scents tickled at Nari’s nose with every breath. She smiled as her son, her precious Riku, splashed the brown haired boy he had come to call a friend from their time in kindergarten. Sora, the brunette’s name, shrieked in laughter as he attempted to get Riku just as wet as he was.

  
“They are adorable,” Chihiro, Sora’s mother, muttered as she relaxed in her seat next to Nari. She took a long drag of her iced tea and smiled brightly. “I’m glad Sora’s found a friend.”

  
“Same here.” Nari sighed and smiled sadly. “I was worried. I’m raising Riku in the traditions of my family, and I know those are not normal to most people.”

  
“Oh, what kind of traditions?” Chihiro set her cup down and turned her attention from the kids to her neighbor.

  
Nari frowned. “On our island, my family were hunters. Everyone in our family learned how to take down game on our own and in hunting groups. There’s a lot that needs to be taught, from knotwork for making traps to field signs to fighting off creatures just in case you miss your shot and end up with a boar charging straight at you and not enough to time ready another arrow. I’ve started teaching Riku already, and I’m worried he’s going to seem odd to other children.”

  
Chihiro hummed lightly and looked back at the kids playing in the surf. “You’ll do fine. I doubt my Sora will abandon anyone he declares a fiend. A bit too much like his father in that.” The woman sipped at her tea again before gasping. “Oh, I almost forgot. We, that is me and Suzuki, are planning a party/playdate for the mayor’s daughter.”

“The girl he took in after she washed up on shore last month?” Nari frowned but nodded. “We’ll come.”

  
“Nari, is there something wrong?” Chihiro glanced back at the kids, still splashing and gamboling among the breaking waves, before turning her full attention of the other woman.

  
Nari sighed and sipped at her drink. Staring into her cup, she frowned. The skin between her brows creased in worry. “That girl is an ill tiding.”

  
“I didn’t think you were superstitious.” Chihiro smirked and placed a delicate hand over her mouth in an attempt to hide her amusement. To think such a young woman believed in such silly things as old wives tales.

  
Nari smiled darkly, her slightly longer than normal canines glinting in the bright sunshine. “I’m not.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

For a kids party, it wasn’t that bad.  Nari could do without the high pitched shrieking that made her ears ache.  While the kids ran around like the endless energy receptacles they were, the parents stood out on the deck and kept diligent eyes on them.  Wakka, the oldest of the kids currently running around like crazed chickens, shouted something and the kids as one mass group made a beeline for the nearest kickable ball.  An impromptu game of kickball with some very nonstandard rules began to take over the backyard.

“If only we could bottle all that energy,” one of the parents muttered.

“We’d make a fortune,” Chihiro agreed as she dug around in the cooler for another bottle of water.  “By the way, Akio, how’s your girl doing?”

The mayor of the Destiny Islands smiled.  “She’s doing just fine except for the occasional nightmare.”

Nari frowned and clicked her tongue.  “She doesn’t remember how she ended up on the beach?”

“She doesn’t remember where she came from.”  Akio frowned and shook his head. His eyes narrowed as he looked over at the redhead.  “We’re guessing she fell off a boat during the meteor shower and bumped her head. I’ve already contacted the mainland in case there’s a missing person report, but nothing came up.”

Nari hummed lightly in the back of her throat and nodded as she took another drink of her soda.  “I see.”

“So you and Rukia are going to adopt her?” Chihiro chirped.  Her wide smile belied the tenseness around her eyes. She could feel the atmosphere between her friend and the mayor had turned frosty.

“Mom!” Sora shouted from the yard.  The adults turned their attention back to the kids.  Several choked on whatever had been in their mouths as they saw the tangle the kids had managed to get into while they weren’t watching.  Nari began to cackle as she saw her son tied back to back with his brunette friend.

“How in the world…?” Suzuki, young Selphie’s mother, said in slight awe as she and Nari made their way toward the tangle of limbs and laughing children.  “Are those the jump ropes?”

“So,” Nari drawled as she walked around the tangle of four kids.  Her son, Sora, a young loud blond kid named Tidus, and Wakka watched her and begged for her to release them.  Suzuki herded the rest of the kids to the side so Nari could figure out the tangle. “Well, who sprung a trap on you boys?  These knots are top notch.”

Riku huffed, which made Nari chuckle at the adorableness.  “Selphie.”

“Squealer!” said girl cried and tried to make a run for it.  Suzuki, far too used to her daughter’s antics, reached out and plucked the 5-year-old up.  Selphie moaned dramatically as her mother carried her up to the porch and sat her down in a chair before beginning yet another lecture on good manners.  

“Just wait minute, boys.  I’ll have you out of this quick.”  Nari tugged at one of the knots. The jump rope slowly slivered out of its knot and the boys escaped their confinement.  The rest of the kids cheered. Nari’s eyes went from her son, who had only a slight friction burn on his arms, to the cheering redheaded girl.  Kairi. Her nostrils flared as she surreptitiously sniffed the air. She forced herself not to react to the strong smell of light and flowers. Her grip on her son’s hands tightened.  Turning her attention back to her worried son, she smiled as best she could as her mind raced. She knew that kind of scent. She had smelled it before, several times before.

A Princess of the Heart.  What the hell was she doing away from her world?  There had been none born in the Destiny Islands for centuries.  A sinking feeling began to build in her stomach. She made a note to increase her son’s lessons and include such things as Heartless identification.  A bit early but something told her that Riku would need that knowledge before he was 17.

“Mom?”

“We’ll talk later about how you got caught in this, Riku.  Go play with your friends.”

“Yes, Mom.”

Sora grabbed Riki’s hand and dragged him over to where the kids began to play another game.  Nari watched, her heart heavy, as she saw her son interacting with the girl Kairi. Forcibly turning herself away, she walked back to the adults and the now silently crying Selphie.  She glanced over at Akio. His eyes wary eyes watched her.

“Ms. Nari?” he questioned as she walked by him.  

She glanced around at the preoccupied parents before dropping her voice down to a whisper.  “We need to talk, Akio.”

“Yeah,” he sighed after a short pause and a sigh.  “I thought that’d be the case.”


	3. Chapter 3

“I’m surprised you know about the other worlds,” Akio said as he leaned against his desk.  Nari sat primly in a chair across from him. Two cups of tea went untouched between them. “Most normal people don’t.  The only reason I know is that the rulers of the various worlds have, well had, a way to communicate with each other. It went silent a month ago.”

“I’m not from this world, as I imagine you've guessed.”  Nari smirked and let a tiny bit of fang show.

Akio shivered and looked away.  “I thought those were stories. Vampires I mean.”

“We exist.”  Nari chuckled low in her throat.  “My son won’t be getting his fangs until he’s 17 and after a lot of training from me and maybe his siblings if they decide to visit.  I haven’t seen my youngest daughter for well over three centuries.”

The mayor sat down and brought his hands up to his mouth.  He worried his lower lip between his teeth. “We are not going to have a sudden uptake in disappearances, are we?”

“My kind survive on animal blood.”  Her head tilted to the side. “Well, unless you have someone who needs to disappear for legal reasons.  Murderers, rapists, etc. We’ve been known to take care of those issues for those in charge of the world we reside in.”

“Oh god,” the man muttered and covered his face.  “I thought Mickey was joking about that.”

Nari blinked and laughed.  The sound fell lightly from her lips as she tilted her head back and put all of her weight against the back of her chair.  She wiped at her eyes. Tiny smears of red decorated her sun-darkened skin. She took several deep breaths. Slowly she calmed from her hysterical state and just grinned at the paling man across from her.  

“I have not laughed like that in years.  But yes, we have offered our services as predators of predators to the rulers of other worlds.  Just let me know if you want to make use of my skills, Akio. But we really need to talk about your daughter.”

He sat upright.  The muscles of his shoulders tensed as he clasped his hands loosely in front of him.  “What about Kairi? Is she in danger?”

“Possibly.  Tell me, have your contacts ever heard of the Princesses of Heart?”

At that title, the man went paler than ash.  Nari worried for a second that he would pass out.  His reaction did tell her he had heard of them. At least she wouldn’t have to explain too much about them, hopefully.  

“That’s impossible.  She can’t be. They never leave their worlds.”

Nari nodded and sighed.  “They only leave if their world is about to fall to the devouring darkness and even then that is more luck than anything.  Luce based their emergency escape mechanism on a talent my own kin have.”

“Luce?”

“The Lady of Light and Keeper of the Greatest Light.  She’s only really known by my own kind. The few books that mention her are held in the Infinite Library, and Drake guards the collection fiercely.”  Her lips pressed into a tight line. “People stopped talking about her and her sacrifice some time before what you would refer to as the Age of Fairy Tales even began.”

Akio started, his jaw dropping slightly.  “You are that old.”

Nari laughed mirthlessly.  Her lips twisted into a sardonic grin.  “I remember the first Heartless. I was there when they were born from humans who decided to play with forces beyond their ken.”

“That’s…”

“I know.  I’m old. My kids remind me every time we see each other.  Thankfully that’s not often. We tend to unnerve people.”  

All the things she must have seen and yet she looked barely old enough to have a son Riku’s age. He shook his head and put that information out of his head, though he did make a note that maybe she’d be willing to give him advice if he had any difficult decisions to make.  He began to seriously think about taking her up on her offer to act as the Island’s executioner.

“But none of that matters.  Back to your girl.” Nari sighed and leaned back in her chair.  “You way of communicating and her appearance are linked. ”

“How do you know?”

“The girl came through during a rather chaotic time.  The ways my people use are a mess but navigable. I can only imagine what the normal routes are like right now.  Something big happened and I have no idea what, but I bet the girl got to see the fallout or at least the start of it.”  She frowned. “That would explain the amnesia. Trauma can do strange things to memories.”

“Then whatever caused this disturbance between worlds could come after her?”

Nari waved her hand back and forth.  “Maybe, maybe not. She _is_ a princess of the heart.  There is a non-zero chance she could be targeted.  That’s why I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to let me train her beside my son and, I suspect, Chirio’s boy.  Those two are thick as thieves.”

Akio froze.  One of his eyebrows slowly made it way further up his forehead as the vampire spoke.  “Teach her what?”

“How to survive.”  She leaned forward to rest her arms on the desk.  “My son will not come into his abilities until he’s 17.  It’s a tradition to teach survival skills, fighting, languages, and magic to our children so that they can protect themselves until they gain their full abilities.  I want to extend the offer of teaching to Kairi. As a Princess of the Heart, she may be targeted by those who want to use her for nefarious purposes.”

He shut his eyes tightly at the thought of his daughter being attacked or captured and tortured by those after the power that dwelled within her.  He shivered. His lips pulled up into a snarl as his protectiveness surged. He opened his eyes to Nari’s approving look.

“So long as she agrees, I have no problems with her learning from you, Nari.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

A few years passed before Nari considered beginning her son’s training.  At 8, she felt he was ready to begin. Her talk with Akio had led to her watching over Kairi fairly often.  The girl had come out of her shell, becoming more lively the longer the was under the island sun. She looked up at the ceiling.  Her son lay asleep in his bed above. Lips twitched upward into a smile. She’d have to make this seem like a game. The fact Kairi and, surprisingly, Sora would be coming over to “play” as well would help.  

And hadn’t that been a surprise.  Chihiro had practically backed her into a corner and begged her to teach Sora.  She had not admitted what had caused her worry, but the bags under her eyes were a clue.  Chihiro had a high level of magic that burbled just beneath her skin. While the woman did not know magic herself, said magic could manifest in other ways.  Such as prophetic dreams.

Shaking her head, Nari turned her focus back to her plans.  All three kids were physically fit. The running and playing they did made sure of that.  She’d start teaching them how to make knots. That would take up an hour or so before she let them run off to burn off their energy running on the beach.  Fighting training could wait a while. She’d introduce the less controversial skills first.

Now where did she put the rope?  She knows it was around somewhere.  She had used it last week when she hunted down that shark that had been menacing the fishing pier.

* * *

 

“Mom,” Riku whined as she sat him in one of the chairs at the table.  Only the fact that Kari and Sora were there too kept him from whining louder.  He didn’t want to look bad to either of them. He was the second oldest of their friends.  He needed to be the responsible one since Wakka wasn’t.

“What did you want with us Ms. Nari?’  Kairi, ever the mannerly one, asked. Her head tilted to the side.  Red hair spilled across her face which she wiped away with on hand and glared at the strands.

“Yeah,” Sora the hyperactive one that gave small dogs a run for the money in the energy department, said.  

“It is a tradition in my family to teach survival skills to our kids,” Nari began to explain as she placed a tangle of different ropes on the table.  “Your parents have asked me to teach you the same. They have their own reasons that they can tell you themselves. Now, our first lesson. You are going to learn how to make knots.”

“Knots?” Riku frowned and poked at the pile.

“Yes, knots.  You'd be surprised how useful knowing a bunch of different knots can be.  I’ve made nets and snare traps out of spare rope.” She picked up two different kind s of rope.  “I’ll be teaching you how to make those, by the way.”

“This is going to be so boring,” Sora whined.  Nari’s lips curled into a smirk. Jumping across the table, it took only a few seconds for her to have the brunette tied up in a way that he couldn’t move his arms.  Tied together elbows behind your back kind of did that.

“Want to say that again?”

“No ma’am.”

“Wow.”  Kairi got up and poked at the knot.  “How did you do that so fast?”

“Practice.”  Nari nodded and grinned as she untied the boy by pulling on one end of the rope.  It unraveled from the knot and slid down his arms. “That was a fairly simple knot, too.”

Riku swiftly proved to be his mother’s son as he picked up a length of rope and eyed his closest male friend.  A grin slowly crossed his face. “Maybe this can be useful.”

“Riku,” Sora shrieked and grabbed his own portion of rope while glaring hotly at his pale haired friend.

“Well then,” Nari clapped her hands together to get the children’s attention, “let’s get started, shall we?”


	5. Chapter 5

“Well, kids,” Nari said as she led her troupe of three toward a wild area of the island.  Trees and bushes covered the ground and made for a good area to start this lesson in.  “Today, we’re playing a game.”  
  
“What game, Ms. Nari?” Kairi, still ever the polite one, asked.  She bounced on her toes as excitement ran through her.  Ms. Nari’s lessons were always fun.  Even the lessons in identifying animal prints and other ways of finding animals that they had to have inside because of the weeklong rain were fun.  Ms. Nari had so many books and pictures that they had used.  Though she did think some of those pictures were fake.  Dragons weren’t real.  Neither were pegasus or three-headed dogs or the other storybook animals Ms. Nari had footprint pictures for.  
  
“Hide and seek.”  
  
Sora groaned theatrically.  “We aren’t little kids, Ms. Nari.”  
  
“Oh, then you all don’t want to try finding me in this jungle?”  She smirked at them as she jumped up and grabbed onto the side of one of the palm trees and braced herself against the trunk.  She grinned down at them.    
  
“We’re testing that tracking stuff you taught us last week, aren’t we?” Riku asked as he frowned.    
  
“Well reasoned!” she chirped and jumped down.  “That is what we are doing today.  I’ll start off easy, making my tracks fairly well spotted, but each time you find me, I’ll make it harder.  I’ll set the timer to give me five minutes to hide and then you can start looking for me.”  
  
“But what if we don’t find you?” Kairi asked as she side-eyed Sora.  The boy had a lazy streak to him.  He’d likely just wander off into the jungle for a nap or something instead of trying to find Ms. Nari,.  
  
Nari smiled.  All of the children felt chills run down their backs.  “Well I may or may not have left caches of ice cold water balloons in there where I can get to them easily.  Don’t show any effort or try to wander off and I’ll get you with one.”  
  
Sora winced.  He knew that look.  Riku had that look when he did planned pranks on Tidus.  The brunette boy shivered.  
  
“Well, kids, come and find me.”  Nari set the timer to give her five minutes to get into place.  laughed and hurry off into the jungle.  She kept her footprints very visible.  She remained on the ground.  The kids weren’t ready for her to muddy the trail with jumping and climbing to confuse them.  
  
She loosened her control over her hearing.  The sounds of the jungle became louder.  Bird calls echoed.  She could hear the wind rustling through the palm trees.  She heard the buzz of the timer faintly going off in the distance followed by the voices of the kids.  The thundered through the underbrush.  Nari resisted the urge to wince.  She hadn’t taught them any stealth lessons yet.  They obviously needed them.    
  
“I found a footprint!” Kairi shouted.  The two boys approached her.  Slowly they followed the obvious signs into toward where she was leaning against the trunk of a large tree.  She waved at them as they found her.  Sora looked relieved at finding her.    
  
“Good job.” Nari smiled and clapped.  “Now to do it again, but I’ll make it harder.”  
  
Sora groaned and slumped.  Riku and Kairi looked at him and laughed.  Nari grinned.  Her heart felt lighter at how her son was getting along with the others.  With luck, they would remain friends for a long time.  With the best luck, her son would have a hunting pack once he reached adulthood.  She hoped for that four him.  Being alone drove so many of their kind into madness. 


End file.
